More godowns to store agri products in pipeline : Minister S Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the government proposed to set up godowns with 40 lakh metric tons additional capacity in the State.

The Minister was replying to questions raised by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) member P Sudarshan Reddy, who wanted to know about the godowns capacity in the State. The Minister said before the formation of Telangana, there were 176 godowns with a storage capacity of 4.17 lakh metric tonnes. After the formation of Telangana, godowns were increased to 452 with a storage capacity of 17.20 lakh metric tonnes. He said the government wanted to increase the capacity by another 40 lakh metric tonnes to fill up the storage gap in the State.

Replying to various questions by the members, the Agriculture Minister said apart from the government owned godowns, there were godowns of the Centre and State Warehousing Corporation and some private godowns with a capacity of 60 lakh metric tonnes, which was enough at the present situation.

He said for the 40 lakh metric tonnes, the Marketing Department had already sent DPRs to the Finance Department and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had also given directions to the officials for acquisition of lands for godowns.

Replying to demands from the members to have cold storage along with godowns, the Minister said there would be one cold storage in every constituency in the State. The godowns would also be sanctioned for the new mandals formed in the State, the Minister added.